Springfield, Mass. — September 22, 2010 — The Amherst College field hockey team, ranked 19th nationally, scored two goals in each half to defeat homestanding Springfield College, 4-0, this evening at SC’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Field.

With the win, Amherst is now 2-2, while Springfield falls to 2-3.

In the first half, the star of the show was Springfield junior goalkeeper Alison McCarthy (North Andover, Mass.) as she held Amherst off the scoreboard for the first 28 minutes of the game. The Lord Jeffs, in that half alone, had outshot the Pride, 23-2.

But finally, with 6:34 left in that first stanza, junior forward Chris Cantore (Hershey, Pa.) fired home an unassisted shot, giving her Amherst teammates a 1-0 lead. Just one minute later, Amherst scored again, this time on a shot by senior midfielder Carly Leahy (Weston, Mass.). The assist went to sophomore forward Kate McMahon (Denville, N.J.). That provided the Lord Jeffs with a 2-0 lead at the intermission.

At this point, McCarthy had made 17 saves. Her counterpart, sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Wise (Akron, Ohio), had made two stops.

In the second half, Amherst applied every bit as much pressure, scoring first at the 45:13 mark. That goal was scored by senior forward Liz Schink (Chicago, Ill.), the assist going to Cantore. Just over two minutes later, at 47:37, Schink tallied the fourth and final score with the assist going to freshman midfielder Alex Philie (East Sandwich, Mass.).

Amherst outshot Springfield, 42 to 3 for the game. McCarthy finished with 27 saves in 56 minutes. Back-up sophomore goalkeeper Anna Calano (Columbus, Conn.) made three saves, and did not allow a goal, in the final 14 minutes.

For Amhest, Wise made three saves.

Springfield will play its sixth straight home game when it next plays Saturday, September 25 at 11 am versus NEWMAC conference-foe MIT.